Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Outrageous AP Story about "Francis Revolution"

Get a load of this story. Another tedious Francis vs. Benedict screed. These folks in the mainstream media can't help themselves. From the Associated Press. (My comments are peppered [ ] throughout. Are these writers this devious, or just lazy and totally uninformed about what the Church teaches...?)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Francis Revolution is underway. Not everyone is pleased.

Four months into his papacy, Francis has called on young Catholics in the trenches to take up spiritual arms to shake up a dusty, doctrinaire church [OFFENSIVE] that is losing faithful and relevance [OFFENSIVE]. He has said women must have a greater role — not as priests, but a place in the church that recognizes that Mary is more important than any of the apostles. And he has turned the Vatican upside down, quite possibly knocking the wind out of a poisonously homophobic culture by merely uttering the word "gay" and saying: so what? [NOT WHAT HE SAID AT ALL, HE ACTUALLY REINFORCED WHAT THE CATECHISM TEACHES.]

In between, he has charmed millions of faithful and the mainstream news media, drawing the second-largest crowd ever to a papal Mass [BUT I THOUGHT THE CHURCH WAS "LOSING RELEVANCE" AND FAITHFUL]. That should provide some insurance as he goes about doing what he was elected to do: reform not just the dysfunctional Vatican bureaucracy but the church itself [IMPOSSIBLE TO REFORM THE CHURCH ITSELF, IN TERMS OF DOCTRINE], using his own persona and personal history as a model.

"He is restoring credibility to Catholicism," said church historian Alberto Melloni.

Such enthusiasm isn't shared across the board.

Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, had coddled traditionalist Catholics attached to the old Latin Mass and opposed to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. [THOSE "REFORMS" HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL COUNCIL ITSELF!!!!! BY THE WAY, BENEDICT/RATZINGER WAS DEEPLY INVOLVED IN VATICAN II, NOT FRANCIS. BENEDICT DEDICATED MUCH OF HIS PAPACY TO CLARIFYING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT VII.] That group greeted Francis' election with concern — and now is watching its worst fears come true. Francis has spoken out both publicly and privately against such "restoratist groups," [BENEDICT WARNED ABOUT THE DANGERS OF EXTREMES AS WELL. BEING TRADITIONAL IS NOT COTERMINOUS WITH "RESTORATIONIST."] which he accuses of being navel-gazing retrogrades out of touch with the evangelizing mission of the church in the 21st century. ... [NAUSEATING. SO, IS THIS WHY TRADITIONAL PARISHES ARE DYNAMIC, YOUNG AND GROWING, WHILE CLAP-HAPPY PARISHES ARE OLD, SHRINKING AND FLOUNDERING? FRANCIS, BY THE WAY, HAS ALSO SPOKEN OF CHERISHING OUR LITURGICAL TRADITIONS. HE'S MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE INTENDS TO RETAIN MONSIGNOR GUIDO MARINI, BENEDICT'S MASTER OF PONTIFICAL LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS.]

As you read more, it gets worse... This is what the agenda-driven media does so well: fabricate a false narrative and constantly breath new life into it with stories peppered with lies and half-truths. If all goes according to plan, the lie will overtake reality. The liberals in the Church did this very thing with regard to Vatican II. Most Catholics actually believe that the Council did away with Latin, Gregorian Chant, ad orientem worship, etc. Totally false.

We've got to be informed Catholics so that this kind of sheer nonsense can be shot down whenever and wherever it crops up.